Catering Worcester lawyers hold court in the kitchen

WORCESTER— During normal working hours, which tend to be anything but in the law business, they are Aloise & Wilcox, PC.

Former homicide prosecutor Louis P. Aloise and Michael C. Wilcox, a one-time Boston police officer who cut his legal teeth at no less a firm than Worcester's Bowditch & Dewey, have made a comfortable living for themselves since joining forces 11 years ago and hanging out a shingle at 1 Exchange Place.

Their professional accomplishments on both the criminal and civil sides of the court have earned them the recognition of their peers, as visitors to the law firm's website will learn. Both partners, for example, have won Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's coveted "Lawyer of the Year" award.

But on any given weekend from April to October, Aloise & Wilcox, PC is apt to morph into something Mr. Wilcox likes to call A & W Catering and Donkey Farm. On such occasions, our esteemed barristers can be found far removed from the decorum and unscripted drama of the courtroom, grilling up mass quantities of steak tips and chicken wings or plunging scores of unsuspecting crustaceans into pots of boiling water.

It seems Mr. A and Mr. W share not only a passion for the law, but also a love of cooking that has evolved into an avocation as amateur caterers. Amateur only in the sense that A & W Catering and Donkey Farm is definitely not a money-making enterprise.

Its clients, if you will, are generally family members, friends or co-workers who pay only for the bill of fare and any necessary equipment rentals. The preparation, cooking and serving of the food and the post-meal cleanup are gratis, courtesy of A and W and a volunteer team of their loyal employees.

"We started out doing stuff for family and then our staff asked us if we could do it for graduation parties and things like that they were having. It just kind of grew," Mr. Aloise explained one recent Saturday morning as he and Mr. Wilcox got ready to take on the challenges of their latest non-paying catering gig, a birthday party for lawyer Robert A. Perrone's 90-year-old mother-in-law, Esther Wittner.

Over the last four years, A & W has catered more than a dozen events, ranging from small backyard gatherings to a wedding reception with more than 120 hungry guests. The catered affairs have included two spree day cookouts for special needs students at Burncoat High School with A & W picking up the entire tab in each case in the finest pro bono tradition.

"I've been cooking my whole life. I spent my entire childhood sitting in a kitchen watching my Italian mother cook and eating her food and I started cooking when I was 15," Mr. Aloise said.

"This is either a labor of love or a labor of idiocy, depending on how you look at it," he said of A & W Catering's efforts .

"I just like to cook. I spend all my weekends cooking at home. It's my hobby," said the former assistant district attorney who successfully prosecuted a number of high-profile homicide cases in Worcester County in the 1980s, including those of the three men ultimately convicted of first-degree murder in the 1983 shooting death of State Trooper George L. Hanna.

Unlike his partner, Mr. Wilcox has cooked professionally in the past.

"My mother's Italian, too. My parents owned a restaurant in Dedham for a long time when I was in college and law school. So, I learned to cook from my mother as a kid, but I started cooking in my parents' restaurant when they bought it," Mr. Wilcox said.

The heavily tattooed lawyer/caterer sported a sleeveless T-shirt with A & W Catering and Donkey Farm emblazoned across the front and "We haul ass" on the back as he and Mr. Aloise set up a charcoal grill on wheels in the driveway of Mr. Perrone's West side home. Mr. Perrone and his wife, Wendy, were awaiting the arrival of about 75 guests.

"I enjoy it. It's my release. I just like cooking for people. If my wife would let me, I'd own a restaurant," Mr. Wilcox said.

He had volunteered A & W's services to the Perrones months earlier when the couple attended a party at Mr. Wilcox's home and mentioned they were planning a birthday celebration for Ms. Wittner.

With the exception of the cannolis and corn bread, everything was made from scratch.

Lending the law partners a hand at the Perrones' party were lawyer Christine Martin, an associate at Aloise & Wilcox; law firm secretaries Lori Robar and Dawn Uppstrom and Ms. Uppstrom's husband, Jim.

Watching A & W at work, it quickly becomes apparent that Mr. Aloise and Mr. Wilcox take their catering very seriously, even though they receive no financial remuneration.

Mr. Wilcox seemed to be everywhere at once, checking the temperature of a chicken breast one minute, offering a tray full of grilled clams to Mr. Perrone's guests the next. The only time his trademark humor shone through was when one of the guests asked when A & W's donkeys would be arriving.

"You're looking at them," he deadpanned.

Mr. Aloise was all business, too, as he wielded a pair of barbecue tongs and flipped chicken wings with the same intensity he might be expected to exhibit during his cross-examination of a key government witness in a criminal case.

Whatever the division of duties might be in the law office, Mr. Wilcox appears to be the moving force behind A & W Catering and Donkey Farm, as might be expected because of his experience as a professional cook.

"I want those clams to be really hot when they go out," he barked to no one in particular at one point. "If people would just do what they're told, my life would be a lot smoother," he later mumbled to himself.

Mr. Wilcox may see himself as A & W's chief cook and bottle washer, but he is willing to give Mr. Aloise credit for one thing.